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OLD SOUTH 



Opinion of Hon. B. R. Curtis. 



OLD SOUTH 



Opinion of Hon. B v . R. ] Curtis. 







R<wd ( CWrt/i 



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OPINION OF HON. B. R. CURTIS 

as to the proposed act authorizing the old south 

society to lease the meeting-house and 

land under the same* 

April, 1874. 
My opinion has been requested upon the question, 
whether there is any thing in the several deeds of 
gift or the will of Madame Norton, under which the 
proprietors of the Old South Society hold their title 
to lands on Washington and Milk streets, which 
should prevent the Legislature from passing the bill 
now before the Senate, # enabling the corporation to 

* This proposed act never passed. It was as follows (Senate Doc. 
1874, No. 152): — 

AN ACT CONCERNING THE OLD SOUTH SOCIETY IN BOSTON. 

Be it ejiacted by the Senate and House of Represe?itatives, in General 
Court assembled, a?id by the authority of the same, as follows: 

Sect. i. Chapter two hundred and twenty-nine of the acts of the year 
eighteen hundred and forty-five, entitled "An Act to incorporate the Old 
South Church in Boston," is hereby amended by striking out the words, 






lease the land on which what was their meeting-house 
now stands. 

I am unable to perceive any legal objection. 

It is clear neither of the deeds, nor the will con- 
tains a condition defeating the estates granted, if the 
lands should be appropriated to another use. 

It would be enough to refer to the opinions of Mr. 
Parsons and Mr. Mason to show this, but the whole 
subject has been elaborately investigated in the Hart- 
ford Church case, reported under the names of Stan- 
ley v. Colt, 5 Wallace, 119; where the Supreme Court 
of the United States held that a gift of land to the 
trustees of a church, " provided the same shall never 
be sold," did not create a condition to prevent a sale. 

" excepting the meeting-house and the land under the same," contained 
in section three of said act. 

Sect. 2. The said Old South Society is hereby authorized to demise 
and lease its meeting-house, and the land under the same, in such man- 
ner and upon such terms and conditions as may seem needful or expedi- 
ent. And all income arising therefrom shall be used for the support of 
the public worship of God, and for the other purposes set forth in the act 
of incorporation. 

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 



The terms of the gift create a trust. They devote 
the property to the uses mentioned, without any 
expressly prescribed limitation of time. 

And I think it must be admitted that the trust 
itself is of perpetual duration, and that it is very ques- 
tionable if the Legislature has power to destroy it. 

But it is a wholly different question whether the pro- 
posed bill, authorizing the corporation to lease the 
land and apply the rents to the same purposes and in 
better furtherance of the same objects for which the 
donation was made, is, under the actual circumstances, 
a breach, or an actual execution of the trust. And 
upon this question I understand the law of this Com- 
monwealth to be, that the trust does not require the 
devotion of this particular land to the special use 
indicated, forever and without change, in the mode of 
investment of the gift. There goes along with such a 
trust the power, and under some circumstances the 
duty, of so changing the mode of investment as to 
prevent the objects of the gift from being wholly 
defeated or greatly impaired. The Trustees them- 



selves have not power to ascertain the existence of 
such a case and then proceed to act on it. But I have 
no doubt the Legislature may ascertain whether such 
a case exists, and grant to the Trustees the needful 
authority, and all this can be done not in derogation 
from the trust, but in furtherance of its substance, and 
because the intention of the donor to that effect must 
be presumed. 

In the matter of the proprietors of the New South 
Meeting House in Boston, 13 Allen, 497-520, land 
had been granted by the town of Boston for the erec- 
tion thereon " of an edifice for a meeting-house for 
the public worship of God," to be held by the gran- 
tees and " their associates and successors for the use 
aforesaid forever." 

The Court say, u doubtless the original and primary 
intention of the founders of the parish and of the 
town of Boston, was that the land granted by the lat- 
ter should be improved for this purpose ; but we fail 
to see any thing to indicate a design to make the con- 
tinuance of the trust dependent on the perpetual use 



of that particular site or locality for a house of wor- 
ship ; nor can any such inference be reasonably made, 
from the facts disclosed, concerning the origin and 
history of the parish." * * * 

" If, as was intimated by the counsel for the peti- 
tioners, and as the evidence offered at the hearing 
tended to prove, the present unprosperous condition of 
the Society arises from the fact that the church edi- 
fice is situated in a part of the city which, in conse- 
quence of the increased accommodations required for 
places of business, has ceased to be improved for 
dwellings, the ability of the corporation to continue 
in the successful exercise of its proper functions may 
probably be restored by removal of the house of wor- 
ship to another part of the city, where, under a faith- 
ful administration of the trusts reposed in the corpo- 
ration, the public worship of God may be continued 
according to the intent of the original founders and 
benefactors of the parish ; for a removal of the house 
under such circumstances the statutes of the Com- 
monwealth already cited make ample provisions, of 



8 

which the petitioners can avail themselves if they think 
proper to do so." 

It must not be lost sight of that this language was 
used in reference to a gift of land, for the erection 
thereon of an edifice for a meeting-house for the 
public worship of God, to be held by the grantees 
and their associates and successors, for the " use afore- 
said forever." 

In the case of Sohier et al. v. Trinity Church, 
argued at the November session, 1871, in Boston, not 
yet reported, but which will appear in the 109th Mass., 
this subject came again under the consideration of 
the Supreme Court. 

In this case, the words of the grant were " in trust, 
nevertheless, and upon condition, always," to use the 
premises for public worship, &c. The Chief Justice, 
in delivering the opinion of the Court, said, — 

" Nothing is intended but to sell this property and 
build a new edifice in some new place in the city, which 
the defendants think will be more convenient and 
agreeable than the present one. Changes of this sort 



9 

are very common, not only in Boston but in most of 
our growing cities and towns ; and the legal rights of 
all parties interested in such cases have been much 
discussed and are well settled." 

" When such property is held in trust for the gen- 
eral purposes of the Society, and cannot otherwise be 
conveyed, the Legislature has constitutional power to 
authorize the Trustees to convert their real estate into 
personal, in order that the avails may be re-invested, 
or otherwise appropriated to the purposes of the 
trust." 

If the Legislature has authority, as seems to be 
clearly settled, to convert the land into money with a 
view to an appropriation of it in better furtherance of 
the objects of the trust created by the donor, I cannot 
doubt they also have authority for the same reasons to 
empower the trustees to create lesser estates in the 
land. Whether one or the other mode of procedure 
will best advance the interests and assist in attaining 
the objects contemplated by the donor, is a matter for 
the judgment of the Legislature, to be formed on the 



IO 



special facts of the particular case. In my opinion, 
the authority of the Legislature, with the consent of 
the trustees and a majority of the pew-holders, to 
authorize a change of investment is plenary, and the 
particular mode of change is discretionary in each 
particular case. 

Nor can the rights possessed by a minority of pew- 
holders be regarded as any legai obstacle to such leg- 
islation. This was decided in the case of Trinity 
Church, already referred to. 

In Fisher v. Glover, 4th New Hampshire, 130, Chief 
Justice Richardson said : " The population in particu- 
lar parts of towns is perpetually varying; and a meet- 
ing-house which twenty years ago might have been 
well situated to accommodate a society, may now be 
most inconveniently situated for that purpose." " And 
it would be singular indeed if a society could not 
place its meeting-house in a place most convenient for 
the accommodation of the whole, because pews in it 
had been granted to individuals." 

My opinion is that there is nothing in the terms of 



II 



the trusts created by Madame Norton, or in the rights 
of a minority of the pew-holders, to render the legis- 
lation in question unusual or improper. 

B. R. Curtis. 




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Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2006 

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A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
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